Jumping Scale in the Arctic Council: Indigenous Permanent Participants and Asian Observer States

Abstract

Since its establishment in 1996, the Arctic Council has been recognized for its unique and progressive political structure. The Arctic region’s leading multilateral organization includes eight Member States, all of which possess territory north of the Arctic Circle, six Permanent Participants (PPs), each representing an Arctic indigenous peoples’ organization and which have full consultation rights, and Observers, including both state and non-state entities. In 2013, the number of Observers expanded to include the Asian countries of China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and India. As Member States have occasionally greeted the overtures of Observers, particularly the recently admitted Asian countries, with suspicion, countries like South Korea and Singapore have increasingly looked towards the PPs for partnership in order to contribute to the work of the Arctic Council. Receptive PPs like the Aleut International Association have cooperated in projects such as examining the possible construction of an Arctic port and mapping indigenous marine usage. This “scale-jumping” in Arctic governance demonstrates how emerging relationships between the Observers and PPs are rescaling the politics of the Arctic Council and leading towards a more post-sovereign form of governance. This phenomenon does not replace the primary mode of cooperation under the body’s auspices, which still occurs within and between nation-states possessing Arctic territory. Yet it importantly demonstrates how the Arctic Council’s organization, which is meant to keep Observers on the sidelines, is inadvertently fostering alliances between stakeholders lacking territorial sovereignty in the region. At the same time, domestic issues in Japan, China, and India regarding their governments’ recognition of indigenous peoples within their own borders may impede expanded cooperation between the Asian Observers and PPs.